PA Bill Number: SB945
Title: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals.
Description: Consolidating the act of August 9, 1955 (P.L.323, No.130), known as The County Code; and making repeals. ...
Last Action: Third consideration and final passage (199-0)
Last Action Date: Apr 17, 2024
Let's blow up Pa.'s absurd fireworks sales law :: 07/02/2015
Let's go over the shopping list for your Fourth of July picnic.
Burgers? Check. Refreshments? Check. Gas for the grill? Got it.
Fireworks?
Hmmm... yeah, it might be fun to set some off in the backyard.
OK, let's head out to the nearby fireworks store.
If you're a Pennsylvania resident, you'll find that your purchase options are limited to sparklers and fountains.
Yeah, they're bright and kind of fun.
But they don't give you much literal bang for your buck.
They don't fly up in the air and explode in a glorious blossom of sparks.
You can't buy firecrackers or bottle rockets or shells — the old standbys of youth.
The Fireworks Fantasy store just off I-83's Glen Rock exit is packed with fireworks bearing such colorful names as One Bad Mother, Echo in the Ear, Drop Zone and Pyro Viagra. But most of those products are off limits to York County residents. Local folks can look, but they can't buy. Pennsylvanians are limited to items on a row and a half of shelving. There are signs halfway down one row that say Pennsylvania residents can buy on this side of the line but not on that side.
Buy here, use there
On a recent Friday afternoon, Don Beam of Dover was in the store with a friend from New York who was purchasing some of the cool fireworks — the kind Beam would be forbidden from buying. But Beam said he wasn't in the market for sparklers or fountains.
Someone pointed out a $190 Red Rhyno fireworks package and described its pyrotechnic awesomeness.
"Now that's something if I could buy, I'd buy it," Beam said.
Why can't he buy it? Because of Pennsylvania's fireworks sales law — a law that rivals our state's alcohol sales regulations for absurdity.
Pennsylvania law limits state residents to purchases of sparklers and fountains, but it allows out-of-state residents to buy "real" fireworks — technically known as "consumer fireworks."
In this file photo, Tessa Collins, of Baltimore, right, buys fireworks for the first time at the Keystone stand in Manchester Crossroads. She stopped in with Duke Robinson of Dover, left. (paul kuehnel — Daily Record/Sunday News)
The irony is that many of the people buying explosive and aerial fireworks at York County stores live in states that forbid them from setting off those fireworks at home.
Neighboring Baltimore County, for instance, outlaws explosive fireworks. The county fire department's website specifically notes that it's illegal to buy fireworks in Pennsylvania and bring them back home.
"The fact that Pennsylvania allows fireworks sales to Maryland residents is a significant problem for us and has been for some time," said Baltimore County Police and Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost. "Our Arson and Hazardous Devices Team says this is a multi-state issue. In one case, for example, someone from Baltimore County purchased fireworks in Pennsylvania and sold them for street use in New York City. Also, we know, based on complaints, that the number of illegal backyard fireworks displays is growing, along with the size of the displays."
The sign on the front door of Fireworks Fantasy near Glen Rock warns residents about Pennsylvania's law. (Jason Plotkin — Daily Record/Sunday News)
Drive around York County on the Fourth of July and you can plainly see that illegal backyard fireworks displays are common here, too.
Where did those people get their fireworks?
Perhaps in South Carolina, or another state that has liberal fireworks laws.
Or perhaps, ironically, in Maryland.
Dennis Coster, who manages the Fireworks Fantasy store in Springfield Township, said the closest place in Maryland where York County residents can buy consumer fireworks is Patriotic Fireworks in North East, Md., an hour and a half away. A sales representative at that store confirmed that Pennsylvania residents can buy consumer fireworks there.
Brian Oler and his 13-year-old son Dylan of Ellicott City, Md., move through the checkout line at the Shrewsbury Phantom Fireworks store with two fully loaded carts in this file photo. (Jason Plotkin — Daily Record/Sunday News)
Coster said he'd like to see the law changed to allow Pennsylvanians to buy consumer fireworks at home. "I wish we could sell them to everyone, but we have to follow the law."
A wink and a nod
So, we have a situation here where Maryland residents come to Pennsylvania to buy fireworks that are illegal to use in their communities, and Pennsylvania residents travel to Maryland (or elsewhere) for the same purpose.
People are criss-crossing the Mason-Dixon line to circumvent the law.
And yet the laws in each state allow such sales to out-of-staters with a wink and a nod.
Does such inconsistency make sense?
There are a variety of different ground-based fireworks that Pennsylvania residents can purchase at Fireworks Fantasy near Glen Rock. (Jason Plotkin — Daily Record/Sunday News)
Walter Remmert, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Ride & Measurement Standards, which oversees licensure and inspecting of consumer fireworks facilities, declined to offer an opinion on that question. He said it's simply his job to enforce the law, and Pennsylvania's law, which was most recently updated in 2004, says this:
"Nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit any licensed facility from selling any consumer fireworks or the year-round sale of any kind of consumer fireworks to out-of-state residents whose status is verified to the licensee, provided the licensee retains proof of such status and produces it for review upon request of the Department of Agriculture and provided the same are to be transported directly out of state by the seller or purchaser."
Pennsylvania forbids use of these fireworks — presumably because they are considered too dangerous — but overtly allows businesses to sell dangerous items to out-of-staters.
Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Tim Solobay said he thinks it's a strange double standard. "I'm not sure if it's giving a good example, not caring what our neighbors are doing," he said. "If I had my druthers, they wouldn't be allowed to sell to out-of-state residents."
Isn't that double standard a bit callous and venal?
Yes, said state Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township,
"It's ridiculous. If you can sell it here, you should be able to buy it here."
The longtime legislator said he couldn't recall how that loophole came about — "probably by some amendment on another bill" — but he said it ought to be changed.
"I'm a personal responsibility guy," Saylor said.
He believes it's your right to use fireworks — particularly on a day marking our nation's freedom. And it's your responsibility to use them safely. Saylor said Pennsylvania residents are getting consumer fireworks anyway, so why not allow state residents to buy them from in-state sellers rather than via clandestine, cross-state purchases?
That was a major impetus for Georgia's recent law change that allowed consumer fireworks sales to residents, said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association — headquartered, ironically, in Montgomery County, Md., where even sparklers are illegal. She said Georgia officials were tired of residents crossing the line into South Carolina or Tennessee to buy fireworks.
Why not propose a similar law change in Pennsylvania?
Because, said Saylor, then you'd get people "crying that children are going to be injured."
Injury statistics
Let's look at the safety issue.
Certainly, many people are injured by fireworks each year. According to the most recent annual Consumer Product Safety Commission study, an estimated 11,300 Americans were treated for fireworks-related injuries in emergency rooms in 2013. At least eight people died from fireworks-related injuries in the U.S. that year.
But sparklers and spark-emitting fountains caused the most injuries — by far. The CPSC report said there were an estimated 2,500 injuries by sparklers and fountains from June 21 to July 21, 2013. In that same period, firecrackers and rockets accounted for an estimated 1,600 injuries.
Sparklers burn at about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and many safety experts warn parents not to let young children play with them — especially not without supervision.
So, Pennsylvania allows vendors to sell to state residents the items that caused the most injuries — but not items that caused fewer injuries.
Granted, that disparity in injuries might be because firecrackers and rockets are harder to buy in many states. But the cross-state purchasing laws allowed in Pennsylvania still don't make much sense.
Two loopholes
There are two ways Pennsylvania residents can legally buy consumer fireworks in-state:
• They can get permits to use fireworks for agricultural purposes — to scare off birds or other crop-damaging varmints.
Other states have similar exemptions. Heckman said pest control is the only permitted use for fireworks in Florida, which she described as "saturated" with sellers. "You would think there wouldn't be a critter left in Florida if all the fireworks sold there were only used for pest control," she quipped.
• Pennsylvania residents can also get permits issued by municipalities allowing people to purchase and display consumer fireworks in their yards or elsewhere.
But municipal permits are rare. Coster said he sees a small handful each year. He said many municipalities are reluctant to issue such permits.
They don't want to deal with the hassles — or the blame if something goes wrong.
Each municipality has its own permit approval process. In some places, the mayor must sign off. In others, the fire chief or the police chief.
York Fire Chief David Michaels said his department would handle such requests in the city. He said he recalls just one permit request during his tenure.
"They wanted something crazy," he said. "They had this huge list of things they wanted to buy."
Permit denied.
"As a fire chief, I understand the dangers of fireworks. I wouldn't want to see them be easier to get," he said. "We would see an increase in injuries."
He said that even sparklers cause concern because people tend to throw them in the air, and they could land on a roof and cause a fire.
In neighboring North York, Mayor Jerry Duncan said he hasn't yet been asked for a fireworks permit.
He said he might be open to granting one if the request seemed responsible. But he said he wasn't sure what the permit procedure would be in the borough, noting that the council might have to decide on a process.
Many fireworks aficionados figure trying to get a permit is not worth the bureaucratic hassle. And so, we have this bizarre situation where Maryland and Pennsylvania forbid use of most fireworks but allow them to be sold and transported across state lines, black market style. The situation is similar in Ohio, Heckman said.
State Rep. Kevin Schreiber, D-York, said it's a strange dichotomy, but he wasn't aware of any proposed legislation to change the sales laws, as Georgia has done.
"It honestly sounds like something we should have a mutual state compact on where there is, at minimum, reciprocity on the law and enforcement," he said.
Change Pa.'s law
Meanwhile, back to your picnic preparations.
You'll have to be content with sparklers and fountains.
You could drive to Maryland or some other state for aerial fireworks, but then you'd be breaking state law if you set them off in your backyard.
There is just something bizarrely ironic in celebrating the founding of a nation of laws by crossing state lines to circumvent the law — and essentially being encouraged to do so by those very state laws.
When they finish this year's contentious budget negotiations — preferably before the Fourth of July — state lawmakers should revise this absurd law.
Let's make it rational — or at least consistent.
Either allow Pennsylvanians to buy and use aerial fireworks in-state, or outlaw sales of consumer fireworks to all.
Update
A June 27 news release said Pennsylvania Sens. Elder Vogel, R-Beaver, Don White, R-Indiana, and Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, plan to introduce legislation that would allow Pennsylvania residents to buy consumer fireworks in-state. Stay tuned for more on this issue.
Laws in surrounding states
Delaware
Specifically permitted: No consumer fireworks permitted.
Specifically prohibited: All consumer fireworks prohibited.
Maryland
Specifically permitted: Sparklers containing no chlorates or perchlorates, ground-based sparkling devices that are nonaerial, nonexplosive and are labeled in accordance with the requirements of CPSC. Paper wrapped snappers containing less than 3/100 grains of explosive composition, and snakes that contain no mercury and are not regulated by DOT.
Specifically prohibited: All others
New Jersey
Specifically permitted: None
Specifically prohibited: Torpedoes, firecrackers, fireworks containing yellow or white phosphorus or mercury, sparklers, fireworks containing an ammonium salt, and a chlorate.
New York
Specifically permitted: Ground-based or hand-held sparkling devices, including cylindrical fountains, cone fountains and wood sparklers/dipped sticks, party poppers, snappers.
Specifically prohibited: Aerial consumer fireworks, firecrackers and chasers, skyrockets, roman candles, bombs and metal wire sparklers.
Ohio
Specifically permitted: Sparklers, trick noisemakers and novelties are exempt under Ohio law. Other consumer fireworks may be sold to Ohio residents upon execution of a form agreeing to take the items out of the state within 48 hours, or to out-of state residents upon execution of a form agreeing to take the items out of state within 72 hours.
Pennsylvania
Specifically permitted: Ground and hand-held sparkling devices, novelties and toy caps as defined in APA Standard 87-1 are not considered Consumer Fireworks under Pennsylvania Law and are therefore permitted and not regulated by the fireworks Law.
Specifically prohibited: All others — except that a display permit may be obtained from the municipality where the Consumer Fireworks will be used.
West Virginia
Specifically permitted: Sparkling devices (fountains, wire sparklers, trick noisemakers).
Specifically prohibited: Firecrackers, torpedoes, sky rockets, roman candles, daygo bombs, bottle rockets, large reloadable shells.
— Source: www.americanpyro.com/state-law-directory
Scott Fisher is editorial page editor of the York Daily Record/Sunday News. Email: sfisher@ydr.com. Phone: 717-771-2049.
Also of interest:
Here are some guidelines for using fireworks safely (letter)
Consumer Product Safety Commission 2013 Fireworks Report
Bill would let Pa. residents buy fireworks (YDR opinion)
http://www.ydr.com/opinion/ci_28387480/lets-blow-up-pa-s-absurd-fireworks-sales#dfm_disqus_comments
